Star striker Naymar did not have to worry about airport queues in Barcelona

The employee at Palma airport confessed ahead of 1,117 flights landing and taking off just as the EU ramps up passport checks: “I’m not sure how we’re going to cope.”

The warning piled on the misery for Brits, who have found themselves in colossal queues on the Continent.

Families who heeded airline advice to arrive three hours early for flights home still could not get on planes in time. At Barcelona airport, where staff are also staging a pay strike, passengers waited up to eight hours. One flight back to Birmingham was missed by 22 passengers stuck in queues.

One of them, Kate Meeks, told how 1,000 people were battling to get through passport control, saying: “It was a nightmare.”

Kate, who had to shell out £500 on a hotel room, branded staff “rude and very abusive”.

Alison English, 50, queued with hubby Michael and kids Matthew, 18, and Georgina, 15, as she too flew out of Barcelona.